He said, however, the launch and expansion of Fastjet’s international routes is taking longer than anticipated due to delays in securing route approvals from destination countries.

“For the airline to sustain accessible and affordable services to the public, we have to keep low-fares by continually monitoring our operations to ensure that the company is efficient and costeffective,” said Lee-Foster.

The low-cost airline is to meet its cabin crew staff tomorrow to communicate the reasons for the intended retrenchment and discuss possible measures to minimise the number of retrenchments.

The airline has already retrenched nine employees from the airline’s Operations and Commercial ground– based departments in Arusha, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam.

Fastjet’s first international route between Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg is scheduled to start on September 27, 2013.

Initially, there will be one flight in each direction on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays although the firm has plans to increase the flight frequency as demand increases.

Fastjet has invested over 15 million US dollars in developing its business in Tanzania with significant amount of the investment going into employee salaries.